Billy Corgan obviously can’t make meticulous music without his ancient allies in the alternative rock genre he originally helped create. “Zeitgeist,” the Smashing Pumpkins’ new album, shows just this with the tumultuous turmoil and lucid lyrics we all loved and missed during the Zwan project and Corgan’s solo days.
The first track, “Doomsday Clock,” reiterates this rhetoric as Corgan screams in his patented suave tones, “Please don’t stop, it’s lonely at the top.” He is accompanied by Jimmy Chamberlin, who shows the heart and soul of the Smashing Pumpkins through his vicious, but articulate, drum vibrations, while guitarist Jeff Schroeder perfectly molds into the group, lashing the metal-like melodies in abstract compliment to Corgan’s signature voice.
But something new is amiss in this “reunion” of the alt-rock epitome; Corgan’s gone way more political than ever before. “United States” echoes the tenacity and tragedy of Metallica’s “One” as relentless tom rhythms and distorted guitars carry Corgan’s conspiracy thoughts: “Dulcet tones whisper fast/ refuse your yearns, renounce your past/ rouse me soon, the end draws nigh/ whose side are you on/ your blood you cannot buy.”
Overall, Zeitgeist picks up where the Pumpkins left off. It’s loud and violent, with verbal allusions unlike anything Corgan has ever written. While “Starz” and “That’s The Way (My Love Is)” provide catchy singles with Chamberlin’s quick and continuous bass kicks and cymbal licks, every song is deep in lyrical and musical composition, finally boasting the true “core” of alternative rock for which fans have been waiting for almost a decade.